The Football Holiday (Part One)

The Football Holiday (Part One)

          Right, I'm back from Dublin and I made it back alive! As you may remember, two friends and I booked to go to Dublin for the first game of the season, between Bohemian FC and Shamrock Rovers. Upon booking it we found that the game was actually renowned for violence and rivalry between supporters.

          The trip itself was a success, but only just. We allowed Tom to go ahead and book everything on our behalf and it very nearly backfired very early on. Delayed for 45 minutes at East Midlands Airport, we were aware that we would have to get across Dublin very quickly to get into our accommodation. After 10-20 minutes of verbally abusing him we did manage to get there on time.

A painting on some side gates at Dalymount Park.

          The football though was a really good night. It was refreshing to go to a game where you don't know any of the players but there's still a great atmosphere. During the warm up the two sets of supporters were getting into each other.

          When the game began the away side were the more dominant. Shamrock Rovers dominated the play as you would expect from a side that is frequently in European competition. An end to end period ensued with chances for both sides falling wide, over or into the keepers hands. The first goal came from a freekick. Greg Bolger floated a freekick into the Bohemians box, Shaw won a header, teeing up Graham Burke to acrobatically aim for goal. The former Notts County midfielder was unfortunate to see it hit the post, but Ronan Finn was on hand to volley home the rebound, giving Shamrock the lead.

          Bohemians were the better side from start to finish of the second half though. Their spell of serious pressure coincided with the introduction of Eoghan Stokes from the bench. Towering centre back Dan Casey, who I thought was one of the best players on the night, and hammered a header home from a corner to pull level.

Boh's supporters celebrate Dan Casey's equaliser.

          The home side continued to press, a long ball from the goalkeeper, Supple, was flicked on by Brennan and Kavanagh raced clear, hammering a shot into the goal, sending Horgan the wring way in the process. Soon afterwards it became three, Dan Casey sent a looping header over Horgan who had rushed out to meet the ball, and into the net. It finished 3-1 and the supporters of Bohemians began chants of 'We are top of the league.'

          We spent Saturday trying to keep up with the goings on in England, Where Ollerton drew 1-1 with local rivals and relegation candidates Retford United. Whilst Forest did very similar against Burton, drawing 0-0.

That's all for now.

Until Next Time.

Craig

Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

          Napoli, formed in 1926, are one of Italy's top football teams at present. But that hasn't always been the case. In the last ten years they've been like Arsenal, perennial fourth place finishers. Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan have been the top sides and Napoli have been somewhere in the chasing pack with Roma, Udinese, Fiorentina and Lazio. This year is different and it has been coming for a while. 

          The surprising factor in there rise is that they've kept hold of most of their main players. They lost Higuain to Juventus for £80m+ and that is good business for an ageing striker, they also lost Cavani to moneybags Paris Saint Germain and they couldn't have done much about that. Lets look at who they've managed to keep though.

Jorginho - 

          When people talk about a pass master, they usually refer to Xavi and his ability to make around 100 passes per game. But Jorginho is the modern Xavi. The Italian set the record for the most complete passes in a game when he made 180 successful passes against Cagliari last season. In his time in Naples his average pass completion has never been under 89 per game. Madness.

          His average pass completion for the season is 105 per game. He's won 81% of his tackles and won 43% of his aerial duels despite being only 180cm tall. The little midfielder has six goal involvements despite his deeper role in the Napoli midfield.

Dries Mertens - 

          Now then, last season Dries Mertens scored 33 goals in all competitions. When a striker does that he's usually one of the most wanted in Europe, but there's no interest in Mertens. This season he has 15 in goals and 6 assists so is well on his way to matching last season's tally. He's efficient in front of goal as well, with 52% of his shots on target and a ratio of one goal every 137 minutes.

          This isn't all he brings to the game though. His link up play enables other players to join the attcak. He has a 74% pass completion rate which has brought about his 6 assists and his defensive numbers are high as well. Winning 78% of his tackles.

Kalidou Koulibaly

         The big Senegalese centre back has been linked with Chelsea in every transfer window for years without a deal ever happening. His defensive numbers show you why. 76% tackle success, wins 58% of his aerial duels as well. He's made 79 clearances, 30 interceptions and blocked ten shots so far this season. Not only that, but his average fouls conceded per game is 1.

          His distribution is astounding as well, the nearly 2m tall defender has made 1972 passes so far this season, with a 91% completion rate, averaging 86 passes per game. He uses his aerial abilities in attack as well as in defence, half of his four goals this season have been headed.

          Napoli have conceded just 15 goals in the league, the joint best with Juventus, and with players like Koulibaly in the defence it's easy to see.

          Napoli are a force to be reckoned with. Players like Insigne, Zielinski, Hamsik, Callejon and Milik still to be brought up. Maurizio Sarri has built himself a squad of worthy Champions and a squad that could go far into the European competitions in years to come. Not many of the players are below 30, and provided they don't get picked up they will do well.

Until next time though,

Craig.

World Cup Outsiders

World Cup Outsiders

          With the World Cup in Russia fast approaching, the majority of the England squad for the tournament names itself. The 23 man squad could be predicted, but there is some outside shots at a place on the plane to Russia. Will Gareth Southgate make any surprise choices? That is yet to be seen. The following players are surely in with a shot at making the squad.

1. James Ward-Prowse

The Southampton Midfielder is a certified deadball specialist.

The young midfielder, yet another graduate of Southampton's famous academy, has already made his England debut. He came on as a substitute in the friendly against Germany earlier this year. the 23 year old can play in the centre of midfield and wide on the right. The chances of him making the cut are slim in my opinion. This is because I would definitely take Harry Winks to Russia and Ruben Loftus Cheek is also in the reckoning following his debut against Germany. One key attribute that could see Ward-Prowse to Russia is his technique in free-kick taking. He took part in a Freekick Masterclass with Jimmy Bullard on Soccer AM in which he excelled, as did Bullard, but I can't see him getting in the England squad.

2. Ashley Young

The Watford Academy graduate has retrained a fullback in recent years.

Who'd have thought it? Ashley Young already has 31 Cap, including taking part in Euro 2012. His last England cap was in 2013, that was until he came on as an 80th minute substitute for England against Germany in November of last year. If England decide to play with Wingbacks then there is a strong argument that Young should be there, as he offers more in terms of attack than England's other options. The winger-cum-defender is versatile enough to play up both flanks and that could be invaluable.

3. Andy Carroll

Andy Carroll is a different type of attacker to our other options.

Right, I don't say this lightly, but technically he is a different option. Let's be honest, at some point we're going to be up against it and need to find a goal from somewhere. Chucking Carroll up front means we could play route one football. Surely this will be a last resort but it's better than nothing. Carroll can score goals, allegedly, if given the right service and I'm sure the national team can get him some good service. Now he just needs to stay fit...

4. Charlie Austin

Charlie Austin, formerly of Poole Town would be a useful player at a World Cup.

Charlie Austin is one of the top English strikers out there right now. His scoring rate is that of a player who should already have England caps but the former non league striker is yet to make an appearance for the Three Lions. Austin has been called up once before but didn't get off the bench. The forward averages a goal every other game in the Premier League and should really be in the England squad by now? Obviously, Kane and Rashford are ahead of him, and others, but the chances of him popping up with a goal are always there.

          Some other players deserve a brief mention but they're more than likely already in the squad, or further away than they should be. Players like Harry Winks should already be on the plane. Ruben Loftus Cheek could be further off the squad because Crystal Palace aren't doing so well. Aaron Creswell is a good player, but is he good enough to get passed his rivals for a spot at left back? I doubt it. The third goalkeeper spot will be a toss up between Jordan Pickford, Fraser Forster and Ben Foster. Nathan Redmond is another good option but where do you fit him into the team in the shape that we've been playing? Finally, is it going to be a toss up between Welbeck and Sturridge? Two forwards who don't score enough goals are far from first choice...

We'll see won't we?

Until next time...

Craig.

Deadline Day

          It's here again. The day that football fans dream of. It comes around twice a year and fills a day of tedium at work with excitement around football. At the time of writing, 11:22am to be exact, Arsenal have just confirmed Aubameyang as their latest signing, at a record fee for the club. but what else will the day bring? Who's next? Giroud to Chelsea? Batshuayi to Borussia Dortmund? Who knows? What I do know is as we get later in the day, the fee will increase...

The man of the moment (For now.) But where does he fit in the Arsenal side? More importantly, what's his squad number?

           Right, I'll level with you. I started writing this on Wednesday, with the intention of finishing it on Thursday, once the deadline had passed. That's not really worked out though. I went out on site at work rather than sitting at my desk, hence this not being written until Friday. So rather than trying to write about stuff in chronological order I'll just talk about some of the major Premier League deals.

THEO WALCOTT - Arsenal to Everton £20m

          This move on paper looked to be excessive in value. Walcott has struggled to be effective in the last few seasons for Arsenal. But £20m could turn into good business. Since his debut he's had a solid impact, assisting on his debut and scoring twice for Everton in their game on deadline day. This resurgence in his form could see him make a late push for the England World Cup Squad.

OLIVIER GIROUD - Arsenal to Chelsea £15.3m plus £2.2m add ons

          I didn't see this one coming. Chelsea were linked to some absolute gash in January. Ashley Barnes, Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch were names bandied about. Mention of Dzeko returning to the Premier League lasted a while but the signing of Giroud from Arsenal can be seen as good business. For one thing he knows where the goal is and has scored some important goals in the past. Can he do it in blue? We shall see.

AYMERIC LAPORTE - Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City £57m

          This is a top top signing. Alan Pardew described him as a serious threat when his side played Manchester City on Wednesday night. The Frenchman is the second most expensive defender ever, behind someone further down this list. He's the latest star studded edition to the Citizens squad. Another younger player, joining Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Mendy, Stones and Ederson on the list of young stars playing under Pep Guardiola.

ALEXIS SANCHEZ & HENRICK MHIKITARYAN - Swap between Arsenal and Man United

          Hard to say who got the better end of the deal really. Arsenal got rid of someone who wanted out and brought in an exciting player in (I can't spell his name so I'll call him Henry) Henry. Sanchez has started well at United but I wouldn't say the transfer makes sense for them. Obviously I'm not stupid enough to think United fans won't disagree with me, but with Mata, Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Ibra and countless others who all play in similar positions and are, in some cases, younger.

VIRGIL VAN DIJK - Southampton to Liverpool £75m

          Who'd have thought that it'd be Liverpool, out of all the teams in the Premier League, to break the record for the most expensive defender? Liverpool did well to bring in their man, but the fee was definitely inflated. With Liverpool getting £142m for Coutinho I would have thought that they'd have signed a few more players during the window. But Van Dijk is definitely one of the Leagues top centre backs.

LUCAS MOURA - Paris Saint Germain - Tottenham Hotspur £25m

          A lot of people will call this bad business. Saying "who wants to sign a player who's not been playing for his previous club? How could he improve yours?" but come on. How many players could turn up in Paris now and take the places of Cavani, Neymar and Di Maria? The answer is very few. Spurs have signed a younger winger, with plenty of Brazil caps to his name, he's played 40+ games in each of the last three seasons and has been a good player during those years. Spurs have done well.

         Honourable mentions must go to the sides that have brought in some very good players on loan in this window. West Ham signing Joao Mario on loan is amazing business and will bolster their midfield. West Brom will look to go Daniel Sturridge a route to the World Cup in his loan spell their from Liverpool. Should he remain fit then he'll do well for the Baggies. Finally, Gerard Deulofeu joins Watford on loan from Barcelona and the tricky winger will look to have another good spell in the Premier League, having previously lit the league up with Everton.

That's all for now folks. When the dust settles I might even mention Forest's crazing window.

Until next time,

Craig